CHAPTER — THE MOURNING STAR
Ryuuji's POV
What is this…?
My whole body feels strange.
It's like I'm sinking into a deep, endless abyss.
It's quiet.
Peaceful.
No mercenaries hunting me.
No monsters trying to devour me.
No enemies.
No loss.
I don't need to worry anymore.
I don't need to search for my soul.
…I'm at peace.
The moment that thought settled, the waters around me rippled.
Then the pressure came.
It crushed me from every direction, tearing at my body and mind like I was being ripped apart.
And then—
Voices.
"Peace? After all you've done to us?"
"We refuse!"
"Die!"
"Suffer!"
"Pay for what you've done!"
"You killed my son!"
"Why did you kill me? I was innocent!"
"Don't you dare pray for peace, you mongrel!"
"Suffer! Pain! Retribution!"
"Pay! PAY! PAAAY!!"
…These voices.
I recognize them.
The people I killed.
The lives I ended.
The families I destroyed.
The powers I stole.
The souls I consumed—just to survive.
This is their lament.
Their sorrow.
Their hatred.
Their grief.
And every single one of them points to one thing—
Me.
Narrator POV
A crooked smile spread across Ryuuji's face.
He remembered everything.
His mission.
His rage.
His purpose.
The battle against the Erasure King.
The void powers meant to wipe him from existence.
Ryuuji whispered to himself—
"I'll use it. I'll use all of it."
The waters around him turned blood-red.
"Your pain.
Your rage.
Your sorrow.
Your hatred."
The voices rushed toward him, merging into his very being.
"Your lament will be my fuel."
His eyes burned with resolve.
"It will ignite the embers of the Mourning Star."
Me.
[You have obtained a new Fable Attribute]
[The Mourning Star]
Description: The laments within your soul now fuel your incandescent embers of mourning.
[Your Fable Attribute has evolved]
[The World's Scar of Lament]
Description: Scorned by earth, heaven, hell, and the world itself.
Your anguish has carved a scar into existence.
You cannot be erased from memory or reality.
The Erasure King staggered away, bloodied and broken.
He approached a kneeling maiden—Shuna.
Tears streamed down her face as she whispered in a hoarse voice—
"He's dead…?
No… that can't be true.
He promised me… he can't be…"
The Erasure King looked down at her coldly.
"My daughter. The feral boy is dead. Accept it.
There is no salvation for you.
No freedom.
No hope."
He sneered.
"He was a persistent cockroach—but still nothing more than an insect."
He raised his hand.
"You will remain my slave forever, and—"
Suddenly—
An ominous pressure crushed the entire realm.
A massive beam of crimson light erupted from where the boy had fallen.
The Erasure King froze.
"…Impossible.
This is impossible.
You were meant to be DEAD!"
From the blazing flames, a figure emerged.
A man wearing a black kimono lined with crimson and silver.
One shoulder exposed, revealing a powerful physique covered in glowing blood-red circuits.
Long dark-red hair flowed in the wind.
His eyes—deep crimson—burned with madness.
A wide, unhinged grin spread across his face.
Kouki Ryuuji was alive.
"Surprised?" he laughed.
"Why should you be?"
"I am a pretty tenacious cockroach, after all."
The Erasure King raised his hands, summoning black spheres of nothingness.
"ERASE!"
Nothing happened.
"ERASE!"
Still nothing.
"ERASE!"
The spheres vanished.
Sparks crackled around his arms as despair filled his face.
Ryuuji burst into hysterical laughter.
"Ah—ahaha!
That look on your face… it's priceless."
He leaned forward, eyes gleaming.
"Can't even kill a cockroach anymore?"
His laughter stopped instantly.
"…I almost pitied you."
He began to rise into the air.
"But today, Erasure King—
you face judgment."
Ryuuji raised his hand.
Dark-red energy gathered above him, mixed with shadows of screaming faces.
"Today, you face the judgment of Kouki Ryuuji—
The Mourning Star."
A massive sun formed above him.
Crimson.
Blood-red.
Screaming with despair.
Its presence alone crushed the world.
The Erasure King tried to flee—
"ELKIDU!"
Divine chains wrapped around him.
Shuna stood, tears in her eyes.
"I won't let you escape!"
"You foolish girl!" the king roared.
"Release me at once!"
"I refuse!"
The Mourning Sun swelled to a gargantuan size.
Ryuuji looked down calmly.
"This is the end of you.
Your reign.
Your kingdom."
He lowered his hand.
"Be engulfed by the radiance of the—
MOURNING SUN."
The world burned.
Outside the XXX Kingdom
Ryuuji stepped out of a shadow, carrying Shuna in his arms.
Behind them, a blinding crimson blaze reached the heavens, consuming the kingdom entirely.
He glanced down at her and smiled lightly.
"Hey, princess."
"When this is over—
how about some of that homemade steak of yours?"